It was ground zero at the Street Machine Summernats burnout pad on Thursday as 30 of the country’s angriest skid cars did battle in the Last Chance Wildcard Shootout, with the remaining three spots in the Burnout Masters up for grabs.

In one of the busiest first days the event has ever seen, spectators rattled the fences and drivers hit the pad with full force.

Jesse Johnson was out for blood in KILLAK as he tore onto the pad, leaving trails of smoke billowing behind him.

WRECKAGE is right! Aiden Stampalia cooked his newly unveiled Torana shortly after the tip-in. He started off strong, keeping his turns tight and the smoke consistent, but fire put an end to his party. We’d love to see how this car performs once Aiden’s had a few runs to dial it in.

Billy Seton smoked out half the burnout pad and grandstand on his first tip-in. It was quite a sight as he threw his new VK skid car, ONTICK, into some impressive circle work in the middle of the pad.

The crowd cheered on Shannon Heraud as he tipped in hard and fast in his TUF253 Escort. On his second run back up the entry chute, the red flags started waving and flames spat from his back tyres. In Shannon’s notorious wild style, he ripped the little Ford even harder before leaving the pad on severely bashed rims.

It was a slow entry onto the pad for Craig Meston’s PINKY VK. Craig seemed to be having gearbox issues during his tip-in, but he still blew the tyres off the car with his finger in the air.

Redemption came in the form of solid smoke clouds for Steve Robson in his freshly repainted Chev, SPOTTO57. Steve put the spectre of last year’s pad fire well and truly behind him, laying down thick clouds as soon as his tyres started spinning.

When the smoke finally cleared, it was three Commodores that came out on top. Billy Seton’s ONTICK VK, Chris Orchard’s THE OG VL (pictured) and the KILLAK VK of Jesse Johnson were the lucky three to move on to the Burnout Masters eliminations on Saturday.

If these Wildcard contenders were anything to go by, we were in for one hell of a show over the next three days.

Winners

Billy Seton – ONTICK

Chris Orchard – THE OG

Jesse Johnson – KILLAK